(Mis)categorisation of L2 accents affects language attitudes

－an L2 listener study－

Abstract

Speech features have been found to affect the attitude we have towards the interlocutors. One of the speech perception research that has been gaining scholarly attention is the impact of listeners’ ability to correctly identify varieties they are asked to evaluate on their attitude (Carrie and McKenzie, 2018; Dragojevic et al., 2018; McKenzie, 2015). According to McKenzie (2015), listeners firstly categorise speech as either native or non-native speakers of the language, prior to a more detailed judgement. To gain more understanding of this mechanism and the social and educational impact of speech categorization, the present study attempts to investigate the role of (mis)categorisation of second language accents in an EFL context. Speech samples were elicited from 44 Japanese learners of English of different English proficiency and the samples were subsequently rated by 12 Japanese listeners on a 6-point semantic differential scale. Following the rating task, the listeners were invited to provide comments explaining their ratings. According to a series of statistical analyses, who “erroneously” judged the Japanese-accented speech as produced by a native speaker of English gave a more positive attitude evaluation overall. This study highlights the importance of raising awareness of linguistic stereotyping (Ferri and Magne, 2020) that appears contingent on further understanding of rater behaviour.